Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Oral Questions. Nunavut MLA for Quttiktuq, Mr. Ron Elliott on the Nutrition North Canada Program & access to healthy foods

NUNAVUT HANSARD UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012 IQALUIT, NUNAVUT[excerpt] [emphasis added]Oral Questions. Member for Quttiktuq, Mr. Elliott.Question 408 – 3(3): Update on Federal-Provincial-Territorial Meetings of Ministers of Health (Elliott) Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.On September 27, 2012, Canada's provincial and territorial ministers of health met in Halifax to discuss issues of concern. I was very pleased to note that the official communiqué from this meeting announced that all of the provincial and territorial ministers of health have joined together to, and I quote, "encourage the federal government to expand the Nutrition North Canada Program to ensure Canadians living in Northern and remote communities can benefit from improved access to healthy foods." On September 28, 2012, our minister and his provincial and territorial colleagues met with the federal Minister of Health. Can the minister advise the House if he took this opportunity to directly raise the issue of the Nutrition North Canada Program during this meeting? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Elliott. Minister responsible for Department of Health and Social Services, Minister Peterson.Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank Mr. Elliott for that excellent detective work, tracking my movements in Halifax. It was a very good FPT meeting. I am very encouraged by the support that the northern ministers had from the provinces. We did talk about Nutrition North.I was able to enlighten my southern colleagues about the "Feeding My Family" Facebook page, which has well over 20,000 friends. I enlightened them about some of the costs and challenges of getting food into Nunavut, standing in line at the stores and seeing the charges that people who are checking out have to pay. It was very encouraging. It was very heartening that we received that support and health ministers recognize that healthy and nutritious food is an important factor in the health of our citizens, especially our younger citizens. We talked about early childhood development and babies getting the sources of food early in their lives. Mr. Speaker, in my meeting with the minister herself, there were three territorial ministers there and we did not discuss Nutrition North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.Speaker: Thank you, Minister Peterson. Your first supplementary, Mr. Elliott. Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the House will recall, I worked with a number of northern Parliamentarians earlier this year to write directly to the federal Minister of Health and Aboriginal Affairs concerning the Nutrition North Canada Program. So I am very pleased that we now have every province and territory government working together to advocate for improvements to this critical program. Can the Minister of Health and Social Services indicate how the Government of Nunavut will be pursuing this issue over the coming year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Elliott. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Minister Peterson.Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again I thank Mr. Elliott for his question. As we all know and most Nunavummiut know, Mr. Elliott is a strong advocate for nutrition and inexpensive food into all of our communities in Nunavut. In fact, we had a recent briefing by Mr. Elliott, who continues to lobby. I encourage and support him to do that. Mr. Speaker, I think there is recognition on this side of the House that we do have to continue to do what we can to assist our citizens. At this time, I can't tell Mr. Elliott specifically what we're doing. I know in my own department, we do have officials working with the communities.Through some funding from Nutrition North, actually, we are educating Nunavummiut about nutritious foods, recipes, and this is working with the communities themselves. Through the health portfolio funding that the Government of Canada has provided, we have streamlined that process and communities have developed community wellness plans. I believe most communities are using some of their funds to provide breakfast programs in the communities.We recognize that kids in particular, in the morning, they should have a good meal to help them get through the day at school. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.An Hon. Member: Hear, hear! Speaker: Thank you, Minister Peterson. Your second supplementary, Mr. Elliott. Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'll have to do some more investigative work to try and find out what the GN is doing.The official communiqué from the September 27, 2012 meeting of provincial and territorial ministers of health also stated that, and I quote, "Ministers discussed how the shift in the federal government's approach on health issues is impacting Canadians. Ministers would like to discuss with Minister Aglukkaq decisions made by the federal government without consultation." Mr. Speaker, our government was a signatory to this communiqué. Can our minister clarify which specific decisions made by the federal Minister of Health he is unhappy with? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Elliott. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Minister Peterson. Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank Mr. Elliott for the question. Mr. Speaker, I had a double-whammy last December. I attended an FPT finance ministers' meeting in Victoria and that's when Minister Flaherty presented the funding letters to finance ministers. I happened to also be the health minister. So I got the finance shock and now I got the health shock. The decision that we were unhappy with was that the Government of Canada didn't seem to want to negotiate the health accord and basically told us, "Here is the funding envelope and you have to work within it." They set some parameters with respect to growth on the Canada Health Transfer. So those are bigger issues, really, for provincial health ministers because in certain provinces, depending on the demographics, it could affect them more seriously, particularly if you have an aging population and they're close to retirement. A lot of elders and seniors in our country do develop health issues and we have to look after them. That was a big concern for my provincial colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaker: Thank you, Minister Peterson. Your final supplementary, Mr. Elliott.Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As our minister is very much aware, the issue of federal support for essential health care infrastructure in Nunavut is a major concern for me and my constituents. Can the minister indicate if he raised this issue when he met with the federal Minister of Health on September 28 of this year? If not, why not? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Elliott. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Minister Peterson.Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank Mr. Elliott again for the question. Mr. Speaker, I did not raise that issue with the federal Minister of Health. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaker: Thank you, Minister Peterson.